Alex’s Morning Hair and Skin Routine…Exposed!
Good morning everybody–meet Alex! She tries to steer clear of perfumes, and is a pro with body oils. Right now she’s diggin’ the Yes To line, but she’s also interested in finding other brands, too. Her routine is no-fuss, but fun. Read on!
Name: Alex (la feminine)
Age: 25
Current weather: Unseasonably warm and sunny
Hair: Shoulder length and choppy, contains some lingering blue-green tones from last fall’s impulsive Manic Panic dye job, but otherwise dark brown.
Skin: Not too bad- forehead & nose tend to be slightly on the oily, break-out-y side, cheeks tend to be dry. I get those annoying zitty-things on my upper arms, but my feet/legs/hands tend to be dry.
Favorite star or icon from the past: Louise Brooks- I haven’t actually ever seen her movies, but I love her style.
In the shower…
I usually shower about midday, but I work at home so it’s really “whenever I feel like it.” I start with Giovanni shampoo (which one varies, I like to mix it up) and either Giovanni or YesTo Carrots conditioner. Sometimes I do it backwards, for a change of pace (but I can’t say I’ve noticed a real difference.) I like both brands because they work very much like conventional brands while still being pretty clean- Giovanni even smells delicious without making my head spin (I can’t really tolerate most smells.) YesTo still has a bit of fragrance but it’s so mild I don’t notice it (their shampoo has sulfates though, so watch out for that.) I later up everywhere with a soft natural sponge and Dr. Bronners (I like Eucalyptus, it really clears the sinuses…but I’ve been trying the other varieties too, lately.) For shaving, I use Alba Botanica’s Unscented Very Emollient Cream Shave. Most days I just rinse my face off in the warm water, but every few days (or if I’m broken out or feeling grimy) I use Evan Healy’s Rose Cleansing Milk. Finish off with a pumice stone to the heels.
Outside the shower…
If I used the Cleansing Milk, I skip right to the moisturizing, otherwise I use a little Kiss My Face Antioxidant Toner (I also use it on those little arm bumpies, or sometimes Witch Hazel.) If I’m going to be outside much that day, I use YesTo Blueberries Age Refresh Daily Facial Moisturizer with SPF 30 (it’s made for older folks, but it was the only variety with no artificial fragrance- unfortunately it doesn’t absorb very well, probably because of the physical sunscreens. I will probably try another brand when this runs out.) If I’m not going to be outside much, I use Acure Chamomile + Carrot Day Cream, which is great. The rest of my routine is a little greasy, so I save it for nighttime: my all-over body oil is a homemade concoction that is about two thirds grapeseed oil, one third jojoba oil, and a dash of argan oil (grapeseed and argan are Aura Cacia, jojoba is Desert Essence.) About every other night I use pure argan oil on my face and sometimes my arms in hopes of cheering up the pores and stopping breakouts, though to be honest I haven’t noticed it being much better than my body-oil concoction (and it’s expensive and stinky) so once it runs out I might try something else. Immediately before bed, my feet and hands get shea buttered (either pure, or Nubian Heritage with Goat’s Milk and Chai.) I wash my hands a lot so throughout the day I use Weleda Skin Food on them periodically- it’s a little pricy but pretty amazing.
Finishing touches…
I wear make up very, very (like, VERY) rarely, so I haven’t switched all of it over to clean brands yet. The only things I use regularly are Gabriel Color concealor and YesTo Carrots Berry lip butter. I’ve been sort of moving away from the YesTo products but I do love this stuff- it’s mostly coconut oil and it works (and smells and tastes) great. The only “perfume” I can tolerate is a little bit of vanilla mixed with jojoba oil. I haven’t found a clean deodorant that satisfies my intense desire not to sweat yet, so I’m still using an unscented conventional super-toxic brand :-( If I’m just staying at home all day, though, I’ll often skip it. I jumped on the nailpolish bandwagon last summer and have amassed quite a collection- I usually go for Zoya or OPI or another 3 (or 4)-free brand, though even then I have to paint ‘em outside because of the reek. I use Bee Naturals cuticle and nail oil to keep them from drying out. No hair products, I’m a wash & go kind of gal (on the rare occasion that I color it, I try to veer towards the less damaging semi-permanent conditioner-based stuff. Unfortunately it’s really hard to find natural colors. Henna & indigo may be in my future.)
Anybody else thinking henna this summer?
Image via
I’m trying to find clean”er” color as well. I fully expect to get flamed on this, but grey hair is not acceptable at my workplace. (Pink, sure. Grey – we might need to reevaluate your usefulness.)
My fear of the henna is that the colors are too dark / harsh. Could you use it for more of a strawberry blonde? I would love to hear ideas – and suggestions for a clean salon in Chicago!
RE: Natural deodorants–on the advice of NMDL, I got some made by Soapwalla, and it’s WONDERFUL. Hands down, it manages odor better than any other natural deodorant I’ve ever tried.
Oh my god teach me your henna ways!
@Alex, thank you for letting us peek into your daily routine. And If you are into DIY, you may be able to solve your clean deodorant quest when all the DIY recipes are posted. A number of us that could not tolerate Soapwalla ( angry red pits reaction) have resorted to making our own with great results (plus no sweating!) .
As for henna, I’ve been covering my many grays with Surya Henna Cream ( I rather use cream than powder) .
@ Karla Kris, I hear you.. Grays are not cheered anywhere, unfortunately . I’ve been using Surya Henna in cream (which I hope is as clean as I believe it to be) and know that they have many colors available.. Maybe you will be able to find something on the light side. All the best!
In the meantime, as you transition toward cleaner deodorants, the new Toms of Maine antiperspirant is, while not clean, a great deal less dirty than most antiperspirants. (And I say this as a former user of Soapwalla; of DIY versions; of Bubble and Bee; of Lavanila, etc., etc.)
@Nancy: Must say I can’t wait for the DIY recipes!! The clean deodorants that prevent sweating will be of particular interest. I just ordered a crystal deodorant, but don’t really look forward to wet pits all summer :(
On the not sweating, there is no natural way (that I’m aware of) to make an antiperspirant. But, some of the DIYs use absorbent clays and such, so you’ll sweat but it won’t be as obvious. I’m also super excited to see the recipes!
Thinking about getting off my toxic hair dye was painful. The reality of switching to henna/indigo was actually pretty awesome. Great grey coverage and help with getting all kinds of colors (including strawberry blonde, @KarlaKris!) can be found here: http://www.hennaforhair.com/ Call them, look around on their site, start saving hair out of your hairbrush and drain to experiment with! Pure henna and indigo won’t give harsh colors, it’s the chemically contaminated crap that can do that.
Thanks for the suggestions!!!! Will definitely look for those hennas – the ones at the Whole Foods just has the choice of the dark red or black!
I’m not sure how clean it is, but I’ve had great experience with LUSH’s henna dyes. I used the dark brown one, and it’s absolutely lovely. You don’t have awful roots when you’re growing it out either, because the henna also fades away gradually and the color changes a bit as well. In the summer, I had some great highlights from the sun that were reddish with the henna!
Pure henna can be super bright (especially on grays) but there are things you can mix it with for other colors (I’ve only really read up about indigo since I want dark brown/blackish.) The “hennaforhair” site is a great resource. Though in my infinite laziness, I’m thinking about getting some of Lush’s “Caca” dye, which is pre-mixed for different colors, though it probably doesn’t work as well and has some unnecessary ingredients (but not the sketchy metallic salts that eff up your hair.) But a few people have recommended it to me and those people had nice hair, so… there ya have it. I’m a little paranoid that left to my own devices I’ll make it way redder than I want :-/
Looking forward to seeing the DIY recipes! I do hate sweating but it’s not like the stuff I use now is all that effective and it’d be nice even to have something slightly less evil.
@Alex, I chose to go with the pure henna and indigo, and I experimented on hair that fell out naturally first. My greys do come out very bright with pure henna, so I do either a half and half of henna/indigo or most recently 3/4 henna 1/4 indigo. It comes out pretty dark, a reddish brown. How long it’s left on is also key. After experimentation I prefer at least 4-5 hours and overnight if possible – but I have a ton of grey. If you are using pure henna you can easily darken it with another application or different mix. What you can’t do is lighten it, so that’s something to consider when trying it. Also, I have no loss of color with time, at least no more than your natural hair would have when exposed to the elements over time.
@Rebecca, I agree with you that there is nothing in our own DIY recipes for deodorants that would prevent sweating but somehow they really work. I’ve made more than a few batches and so far, zero sweating! I could not be happier.
@Rebecca right now my hair is already dark brown, but with a greenish tinge on the bottom and reddish on the top- the main goal is just to even that sucker out. So I’m not too worried- at worst it’ll end up black, and I had it black for years and loved it. I really hope I can avoid leaving it overnight, though. I only have white sheets ;-P
@Alex I put double shower caps on my head (biodegradable, from Whole Foods) and a towel over my pillow. So far it works, and there’s barely any dye on my towel. But I only have to do the overnight because the grey is stubborn.
@Rebecca Good call. I’ve heard leaving it open to the air makes it more cool-toned/less red, but I may have to sacrifice that in the name of my sanity. My couch is white too, darn it. ;-)